Harry and Shirley Young Corporate Award

Presented to Bell Canada

Half a million Canadians are not at work today because of mental health problems. It’s a serious and costly situation. And Harry and Shirley Young feel passionately that corporations have a critical role to play in eliminating the stigma and discrimination that surrounds mental illness.

The Youngs have made a visionary contribution to CAMH Foundation to encourage corporate Canada to do more. The Harry and Shirley Young Corporate Award honours a business or corporation that has demonstrated outstanding leadership and commitment to mental health.

Bell Canada is the inaugural recipient of the Harry and Shirley Young Corporate Award.

Bell has long been a leader in corporate giving but with the 2010 launch of the $50 million Bell Let’s Talk mental health initiative, Bell started a national conversation that put the spotlight on mental illness as a national issue that could no longer be ignored. The initiative is based on four key pillars: anti-stigma, care and access, research, and workplace health.

Bell’s $10 million donation to CAMH in 2011 was truly transformational, marking the largest corporate donation to mental health in Canadian history. This gift, including five years of support from the spectacular Bellevent, is supporting the development of an innovative online portal, a revolutionary primary-care support network as well as ensuring completion of the Bell Gateway building, the centrepiece of the hospital’s redevelopment and the “front door” for CAMH’s Queen Street campus.

Through the nationwide Bell Let’s Talk Campaign, launched in 2011, Bell is contributing an additional $7 million to Canadian mental health programs. On February 8, 2012, Canadians showed their support with over 78 million text messages, long distance calls and retweets.

Bell’s commitment to mental health truly begins at home: all Bell senior leaders and managers have taken part in mandatory mental health training and information programs – unprecedented in Canada.

Bell Canada has resoundingly answered the Youngs’ challenge to corporate Canada to do more – much more – to improve all aspects of mental health care, from research to treatmentto education.

We are deeply grateful to Harry and Shirley Young for their visionary thinking and critical support. And to Bell Canada, our sincerest congratulations and thanks – your support is a game-changerfor Canada and for the world.